Arsenal could point to Howard Webb's Chelsea v Tottenham red card explanation after appeal confirmed

Arsenal are set to appeal the red card shown to defender Myles Lewis-Skelly in the 1-0 victory over Wolves on Saturday to reverse the three-game ban currently hanging over the 18-year-old.

The full-back took out Matt Doherty to stop a Wolves counter-attack in its early stages. The foul took place deep in the Gunners' half but Lewis-Skelly was still shown a red by Michael Oliver.

An explanation from the Premier League Match Centre on social media platform X read: "The referee’s call of a red card for Lewis-Skelly was checked and confirmed by VAR, who deemed his challenge to have been serious foul play."

Arsenal submit Premier League appeal

On Tuesday afternoon, Sky Sports confirmed that Arsenal had submitted an appeal to the Premier League after Mikel Arteta was left 'fuming' with the decision at Molineux.

The Arsenal manager said: "It is that clear and I will leave it to you guys. I am absolutely fuming. But I will leave it with you, it is that obvious that I don't think my words are going to help."

When asked about a potential appeal, Arteta had said: "That's for the club to decide what is the best decision. It's that obvious that maybe we don't even need to [put in an appeal].

"He [Lewis-Skelly] is really happy now that the team won and found a way to win it. He is very worried about what's coming next because he's strongly feeling that there was nothing to do with the action."

The Gunners are currently set to be without the defender for upcoming Premier League matches against Manchester City and Leicester City, as well as the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Newcastle United. Lewis-Skelly is eligible to play in the Champions League against Girona on Wednesday night.

Arsenal could look to point to comments from PGMOL chief Howard Webb made in December to strengthen their case that Michael Oliver made the wrong decision in sending off the young defender. Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo avoided a red card when making a similar challenge in the Blues' 4-3 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

Howard Webb on what constitutes ‘serious foul play’

Caicedo lunged in on Pape Matar Sarr and the collision was checked by VAR. Speaking on Sky Sports show Ref Talk, Webb backed the decision not to send the player off.

He said: "A yellow card should have been shown, in the end Caicedo received no disciplinary action for that action. I think his actions were reckless. For me it's not a red card. For me this is a situation where Caicedo goes to swing to kick a ball which is kicked away from him by Pape Sarr.

"That swinging action continues into the leg of Sarr. It comes off really quickly, slow motion can sometimes distort reality. For me that's reckless, not serious foul play because it's not excessive force, it doesn't endanger the safety of Pape Sarr.

"At full speed there's no real energy coming through his foot into the shin. It comes off really quickly so there's not an exertion of force through into an opponent's leg which would do the damage. It hits his leg and comes off quickly. For me, it should be a yellow card for a reckless action."

In other news, this is how Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur fare in the latest new-look Premier League table, should VAR have not existed at all this season.